• Capital intensive
  
• Research intensive
  
• Capable of producing speciality products
  
• Enables rubbers to be used in hostile environments
  
• Highly productive in labour terms [this may be a disadvantage if surplus labour is available]
  
• Highly wasteful of fossil fuels [and may demand imports, as in India]
  
• A contributor to carbon dioxide emissions
  

The synthetic rubber industry may form part of :

• the tyre industry
  
• the petrochemical industry
  
• or be independent